The invention relates to surface topography measurements of objects having thin films or discrete structures of dissimilar materials. Such measurements are relevant to the characterization of flat panel display components, semiconductor wafer metrology, and in-situ thin film and dissimilar materials analysis.
Ellipsometry can be used to analyze the optical properties of a complex surface. Ellipsometry relies on the difference in complex reflectivity of a surface when illuminated at an oblique angle, e.g. 60°, sometimes with a variable angle or with multiple wavelengths. Many types of ellipsometer are known in the art.
To achieve greater resolution than is readily achievable in a conventional ellipsometer, microellipsometers measure phase and/or intensity distributions in the back focal plane of the objective, also known as the pupil plane, where the various illumination angles are mapped into field positions. Such devices are modernizations of traditional polarization microscopes or “conoscopes,” linked historically to crystallography and mineralogy, which employs crossed polarizers and a Bertrand lens to analyze the pupil plane birefringent materials.